The 41-year-old hit the limelight more than two years ago in a viral video capturing the life-changing moment she was able to hear for the very first time.

Jo was born deaf but in early 2014 received cochlea implants and she was filmed as they were switched on following the surgery.

The moving scenes of her being overcome with emotion on hearing what is said to her for the first time went viral and turned the unassuming woman from Low Fell into an internet sensation.

Jo had also been hit by a rare eye disorder called Usher syndrome at the age of 29 and, in a cruel quirk of fate, she suffered deteriorating eyesight just as she was coming to terms with a new wonderful world of sound.

Jo Milne

She talks about the battle to save her vision in her inspiring book Breaking the Silence which she published last year and now the new documentary film is bringing her life story up to date.

The Gift of Hearing has been made by the BBC’s North East current affairs team and follows Jo as she fulfils a childhood dream.

She and her best friend Amina Khan had long hoped to provide hearing aids to hundreds of needy youngsters in Bangladesh where 5% of children are said to be profoundly deaf.

The programme, narrated by another of Jo’s friends - broadcaster Lauren Laverne, follows Jo on a trip to Dahka where she worked alongside the charities The Hearing Fund UK and the Starkey Foundation to provide hearing aids.